The Best Medicine
The crown prince of Persia had fallen ill. He lay in bed all day long and stared at the ceiling. He had no interest in anything and would not talk to or laugh with anyone. What was worse, he would neither eat nor drink anything and grew thinner and paler day by day. The king, as you can very well imagine, was very worried. He called in the best doctors in the kingdom and from the neighboring countries, but no one could find a cure for the prince. The royal doctor and some advisers finally went to the king and said, "Your Majesty, maybe we should send for Apollo. It is said he has cured many people whom no other doctor was able to cure. Maybe he can help." The king was most surprised. "You mean the boastful quack?" he exclaimed. "He doesn't know any medicine! I've received so many complaints about him. He only cures people in his imagination and then boasts about it. How can he cure the prince when even the best doctors have given up?" The king's advisers, however, persisted. "Sire," they said, "he has cured many people when the best doctors had given up hope. Since we have no other solution in mind, let's give him a chance." After thinking about it for a while, the king finally said, "Let's do one thing. Get a few people who are really ill. We call Apollo and ask him to cure them. If he succeeds, then we shall ask him to treat the prince. If he fails, he will be beheaded."
The advisers and ministers felt that this was a good idea. They went around the capital and rounded up a few incurably sick people. They were housed in a room next to the crown prince's chambers. After that Apollo was summoned to the king's court. When he turned up, the king said, "I understand you're not really a doctor but only a quack. If you have been cheating people by pretending to know all about medicine, you deserve to be punished. What do you have to say?" "Your Majesty," said Apollo. "I've cured many incurable invalids. My methods and medicine are different from those of the others. Some of them are jealous of my skills and they spread all kinds of rumors about me. It's not right to believe their baseless words and punish me." "If that's so, you must prove your skill," said the king. "In that room over there are a few people. They have been ill for a long time. You must cure them. If you fail, you'll be beheaded for being a fraud." Apollo was nonplussed. He did not know what to say. In fact, there was nothing he could say in his defense. The king had trapped him neatly. The guards took him to the room where the sick had been staying. Apollo told the guards, "I would like to speak to the patients alone. Please leave me alone with them." When the guards left the room, Apollo addressed the patients. "I've the recipe for a fantastic ointment that can cure all your illnesses. But to make that ointment, I need a human heart. It must be fried and ground and mixed with some other medicines and ingredients. If you apply it three times, you will be cured. To enable making this medicine, one among you must be prepared to die!" Then Apollo looked at a man suffering from a terminal illness and the man got worried. He said, "I'm not ill! I'm quite fit and feel very well. I've no illness at all!" He then got up and ran out of the room like the wind.
Quick on his heels, another patient followed exclaiming, "I'm not ill. Who said I am ill? I've no sickness." Soon, one after the other all those believed to be incurably sick ran out of the room, insisting they were perfectly well. The king was really surprised at this development. Even if the god of medicine, had come down from the heavens, he would not have cured these people so easily. The king, with his entire entourage, went into the room to see what was happening. They found Apollo sitting all alone, looking very smug. Before the king could say anything, he heard sounds of loud laughter from the crown prince's room next door. The king had not heard his son laugh like that for a long time. He went in and asked, "My son, are you all right? why are you laughing like this?" The prince answered, "What illness do I have? I'm not ill at all!" and he went into gales of laughter. Then the prince told the king how Apollo had cured all those invalids. Apollo was sure that the king would behead him for committing fraud and he waited with his heart in his mouth. The king turned to Apollo and said, "Though I am convinced that you don't know any medicine, I shall forgive you. But you have to give up medicine. Instead, you can join my court as the court jester. Your job will be to see that the prince is always kept in good humor and does not suffer depression again." Apollo agreed. In fact, that was what he was good at, making people laugh. That was how he cured them. That is why it is said, laughter is the best medicine.
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